Description of One Ring Scam (Wangiri):
It is a scam in which someone (i.e. scammer) will give you one ring and then disconnect the call. You will think that you missed an important call, which is usually from the foreign country. You will call back on the same number and your call will be taken. However, nobody will talk to you from the other side and you’ll keep on saying something like “hello, hello, hello”. Eventually, receiving no answer, you will get frustrated and disconnect the call. However, by then you would have lost quite a bit of money. In addition to the missed calls, you may also receive messages or Emails that would ask you to “please urgently call back” on a given (fraud) number and once you call and you lose money. Therefore, one should not call back to unrecognized foreign number unless he/she is confident.
- NTA suggests the followings to the telephone/mobile phone users to protect them from the loss:
- Do not pick any call that is coming from abroad and the phone numbers are not recognized.
- Give special attention to calls coming from the countries like Poland, Malaysia, USA, German, South Sudan, Saudi Arabia etc. List of suspicious countries for this scam is published in NTA website. Don’t take calls from these countries if the number is not saved in your phone book.
- If you’re really expecting a call from these countries, it is better to first receive the phone number through SMS or Email and save it in your phone book.
- If you miss such a one ring scam call —do not call back, ignore it.
- If you are receiving repeated missed calls from numbers abroad which are not recognized, you can block those numbers.
- If you’re unsure about the origin of call, you should look up for the country code in Google. The search will tell you the country of origin.
- In case if you picked up the call or have called back, do not disclose any sensitive information or personal information.
- Do not dial any international number or respond to an email to claim the prize money.
- When dealing with uninvited contacts from people or businesses, whether it’s over the phone, by mail, fax, email, in person or on a social networking site, always consider the possibility that the approach may be a scam.
- You can report all the suspicious calls to Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) or the Security Agencies.
- You can use various call blocking apps to block a particular number. If the spammer is using different numbers, you can also block an entire country code.
- Share the information about the scam to your friends and family members to protect them.
Report about such scamming numbers in the following email address: ntamonitoring@nta.gov.np or info@nta.gov.np.
List of countries to watch out One Ring Scam
+7 | Russia |
+20 | Egypt |
+27 | South Africa |
+40 | Romania |
+41 | Switzerland |
+44 | UK |
+49 | German |
+52 | Mexico |
+56 | Chile |
+62 | Indonesia |
+68 | Samoa |
+91 | India |
+92 | Pakistan |
+96 | Maldives |
+98 | Iran |
+212 | Morocco |
+216 | Tunisia |
+220 | Gambia |
+221 | Senegal |
+222 | Mauritania |
+223 | Mali |
+224 | Guinea |
+225 | Côte d’Ivoire |
+227 | Niger |
+228 | Togo |
+229 | Benin |
+232 | Sierra Leone |
+234 | Nigeria |
+235 | Chad |
+248 | Seychelles |
+249 | Sudan |
+252 | Somalia |
+254 | Kenya |
+255 | Tanzania |
+256 | Uganda |
+257 | Burundi |
+261 | Madagascar |
+265 | Malawi |
+269 | Comoros |
+316 | Netherlands |
+370 | Lithuania |
+371 | Latvia |
+375 | Belarus |
+380 | Ukraine |
+381 | Serbia |
+387 | Bosniaherzogonovia |
+487 | Kazakhstan |
+509 | Haiti |
+563 | Valparaiso |
+675 | Papua New Guinea |
+676 | Tonga |
+679 | Fiji |
+686 | Kiribati |
+855 | Cambodia |
+962 | Jordan |
+966 | Saudi Arabia |
+994 | Azerbaijan |